The contribution of the Media Academy for Journalism and Communication-MAJaC to media development and strengthening democracy has been felt by not only Gambians, but also stakeholders closely working in and outside The Gambia. Locally, the institution receives commendation for producing great journalists. A Spanish journalists working with TVE (Spanish Public Television) is the latest to weigh into the discussion. She describes MAJaC as one of the most effective journalism and Communication training institutions in The Gambia saying she has been following MAJaC’s work since 2017. She points that she has seen the amount of award-winning journalists the institution produced within this short period. Pilar Requena, a TVE reporter covering foreign and international affairs made these remarks after she completed shooting a documentary at MAJaC. “I have noticed that in almost all media houses you visit in The Gambia, you’ll find MAJaC students there. This shows how effective the institution is”, Pilar explained. Requena hails MAJaC for producing responsible journalists and communicators. She says having good and responsible journalists could help reduce the unemployment rate and irregular migration. She tells MAJaC Media that she included the Academy in documentary they are shooting because of the institution’s involvement in the fight against irregular migration and youth empowerment. The documentary, Pilar says is looking into the lives of returnees, effects of irregular migration and how the youth could be encouraged to stay home through empowerment programmes such as training. The Media Academy for Journalism and Communication builds and nurtures critical minds for the rapidly evolving world of journalism and communication.
The Media Academy for Journalism and Communication (MAJaC), on its drive to strengthen a learner centered training approach, trained 14 of its trainers on pedagogy. The Training of Trainers that lasted three days saw participants went through topics such as understanding different learning styles, presentation, lesson plan, giving and receiving feedback and classroom management. Binta Bah, the administrative officer said the training is timely and needed because it is geared towards improving quality delivery from the training staff. “This training couldn’t have come at a better time than this. We know we have great trainers who know their subject matter very well but for management, continuous refresher trainings of such are key in maintaining the standards set by the school,” she said. Binta added that MAJaC focuses more on the hands-on thus such training of trainers will go a long way in helping the Academy produce student who are ready for the labour market. Lars Mollers, the lead trainer said he is impressed with the performance of the participants. Lars is a Danish journalist who has served as a journalism Trainer since 1995. “I worked with trainers who want to grow. They also want want MAJaC to grow pedagogically. I see that these trainers understood and mastered their subject matter very well. All they needed is a little push on the areas we have chosen to train them on,” he said. Isatou Keita, one of the journalism trainers at the academy said the training gave her more insights of how to become a better trainer. “This training challenged me in multiple ways, I’ve learned how to better manage my class and how to engage the learners using different feedback methods,” Isatou Said. This TOT came off the heels of an end of year evaluation the Academy organizes with the class representatives. At such meeting, the students are asked to evaluate trainers, management, facilities, resources and trainers’ punctuality and regularity.
The Media Academy for Journalism and Communication (MAJaC) on Tuesday launched a project meant to build the capacity of twelve Civil Society Members and Community Media Staff in web management, public speaking, and other forms of communication. The project dubbed Outreach and Bottom-up: Expanding the Civic Space (OBECS) is funded by Civil Society in Development (CISU) and aimed at boosting the communication skills of CSOs and community media journalists to proactively engage their audience. Mrs. Meita Touray, Project Assistant said the project will empower CSOs with skills to create and sustain interactive radio concepts and content in local languages, develop web and social media platforms, and facilitate meetings with mutual learning with CBOs, all geared towards sustaining and encouraging interactive dialogue with their audience. “The current state of this country Calls for emboldened CSOs. This can only be achieved if organizations and institutions like MAJaC continually build the capacity of CSO members to effectively carry out their roles of holding the Government and its institution to account for their actions and inactions. This is also in line with the primary role of journalism thus the need for including community media in this project so that CSOs can reach out to their target communities using the community media, ” she said. She added that the Academy has over the years built the capacity of many civil society members in different thematic areas including advocacy and the use of digital media. And should be acknowledged for empowering community media staff with knowledge and skills relevant to their work. Mr. Alagie Cham representing the Executing Director of TANGO said civil society organizations are a driving force of successful policy advocacy and implementation in most societies. He said that CSOs and the media can thrive better in a democratically stable country where policies are favorable. He further thanked MAJaC for building the capacity of Gambian CSOs. Muhammed S. Bah, President of the Gambia press union said the project came at a time when the Gambia is experiencing a lot of pending reforms agenda, such as constitutional and legal reform, transitional justice reform, and security sector reform among other reforms that are relevant to the people of the Gambia. “In our world today, which is characterized by absolute social injustice, poverty, corruption, bad governance, and unjust distribution of wealth among other things, I believe the only sectors that can save the people of the world from these man-made menaces are vibrant media and CSOs,” Bah said. Bah further called on CSOs and community media staff to make the best use of the training saying that the knowledge and skill they will acquire will help them in their service to their audience.